The invention relates to a card reading configuration in a mobile phone, more specifically to a card reading configuration for reading a subscriber card of the size of a credit card in a bakery-driven small-sized mobile phone.
For the operation of the phone, some mobile phone systems require an information card, "SIM card", which is inserted in its reading unit for subscriber identification, among other functions the basic SIM card is a card complying with ISO 7816 standard, which is of the size of an ordinary credit card, i.e, with a width of c. 54 mm and a length of c. 84 mm.
Recent developments in mobile phone systems allow subscribers to increasingly use very small battery-driven handsets, "pocket phones", with a typical size of 60.times.170.times.25 mm. This kind of phones have in fact become extremely popular. A conventional card reading arrangement is obviously not adequate for reading an ISO standard card in such a small mobile phone, the conventional design being a casing surrounding the card on all sides except for the insertion opening, and provided with contacts for card reading and a connection to the electronics that carry out the actual reading. The present situation calls for solutions enabling the space required for the card reader in a mobile phone to be reduced to a minimum size.
The applicant's former EP patent application 522 762 discloses a configuration, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which the card space and the contacts required for reading the card are disposed such that the battery unit acts as a cover fitting over the space. The objective of the present invention is to further improve this set-up so as to provide a reliable card reading configuration which is easy to operate and requires a minimum of space.